Aalberg Audio EKKO EK-1 review

Delay from Norway's finest

  • £230

MusicRadar Verdict

Basic digital delay with tap tempo, with an option to change delay times and more from your guitar

Pros

  • +

    Clean delay sound.

Cons

  • -

    Not terribly versatile or feature packed.

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This digital delay has knobs for Time, Feedback (number of repeats) and Level, which blends in the delay signal up to a 1:1 ratio with the dry sound, while the FX Select footswitch operates as a tap tempo.

All of the pedals in the range offer four different mono and stereo configurations, the EKKO's stereo speciality being ping-pong delay.

The delay sound is clean with a time range from very short to over a second, so if you like straight digital delay, you'll be okay with this.

However, we feel that players want more from their delay pedals these days - either a range of delay types or a particular sound like analogue delay or tape simulation.

The Aero does offer advantages in that you can call up different delay times quickly, but you'd be disappointed if you like to manipulate feedback for dub effects, because this one doesn't go off into self- oscillation like an analogue delay.

Trevor Curwen has played guitar for several decades – he's also mimed it on the UK's Top of the Pops. Much of his working life, though, has been spent behind the mixing desk, during which time he has built up a solid collection of the guitars, amps and pedals needed to cover just about any studio session. He writes pedal reviews for Guitarist and has contributed to Total Guitar, MusicRadar and Future Music among others.